Guardian Bird of the Tamayori
by celestia193
Summary: Saving Tamaki's life isn't the only thing that Takuma did with that incantation. That red light was the proof of a contract. A contract with a beast god. A child of the vermilion bird, the phoenix beast god clan. And she's not here for the reason they expect. She's not what they expect, and not what anyone expects. I do not own Hiiro no Kakera. This is mostly canon, with MahiroxOC.
1. Vermillion Bird

**Another story that I've had in my personal archives for a while. I feel like Mahiro just doesn't get enough love. So here's a little fun for him. Hope he likes dealing with tomboyish, hot-headed squirts with loud mouths.**

I'm still a young one, by my kind's standards. My father is over two thousand years old, which is why he is considered old and wise by the younger ones, but also young and full of life and power by the older ones. He is the leader of our clan, a clan of phoenixes, the vermillion birds. We are the birds of the sun, of fire, and of immortality, the guardians of the south, and associated with the season of summer. And most of all, we are among the guardians of humanity. One of the four clans of beast gods.

I think that I'm a century and a half old or so, but time is difficult when you don't age as quickly as humans, and when time seems to stand still. Besides, we only use human years as a relative measurement. To us, it hardly matters, since we don't pass away from old age. But, by phoenix standards, I'm still a young lady, going through what the humans would call adolescence, and my body is still quite small. Because of this, my father decides that it is time for me to be sent out into the world to answer a summons of power by the humans. That should also help me to mature and complete the development of my growing and slightly unstable powers.

When the call finally comes, my father assigns me a mission. "Stay in the human realm until your powers have matured, even if it take years. You will form a summoning contract with a human, and you will aid that human until such a time as that mission is complete."

"Alright. I'll do my best." I agree easily, since a year doesn't seem like very long, not to me anyway. And besides, being around humans might be fun, since I've never even actually seen one. I've been told that they look like our wingless forms, though I still wonder how such frail and short-lived creatures have managed to survive this long. Perhaps it's because they reproduce faster than they die, which would explain their huge over-population issues.

 _The Sky, my father. The Earth, my mother. Within this country…Sagittarius. The Dipper. Three Pedestals. Jeweled Girl. Left Blue Dragon. Right White Tiger. Front Vermillion Bird. Back Black Tortoise. Help me! Hurry, Tathata's Command!_

As I feel the incantation for the summoning spell finish, I become a mass of red light and travel from my realm to theirs, exploding from a paper incantation to distract and strike down a group of drowned gods, somewhere in rural Japan. But as soon as I appear, a shining star to these drowned gods, the two humans run off. It seems that they summoned me in desperation, which would explain several things, including why there are corrupted gods here in the first place.

I look at the drowned gods with contempt. "Fallen to darkness and corruption…how pitiful. If you have no will to continue on, then you should have disappeared long ago. I will end you now." I raise my hand, and light shines from it. It would blind anyone watching, which is why it's a good thing that those two humans left.

I have heard of fallen gods before. The older phoenixes tell me about them from time to time. But I've never had the misfortune of seeing any before today. We hold them high in contempt, because even if they are no longer worshiped, they can still keep their sanity through strength of will alone. These drowned gods have proven that they do not have the strength of will to resist the corruption that destroyed their sanity.

After dealing with the drowned gods, I wander around in an intangible form for a while, even through the night, getting the lay of the land, which is mostly hills, valleys and mountains, with a single village right in the middle, surrounded by forest. I suppose that I should understand my surroundings before starting my official mission. I find the village through the forest, as well as what the humans call a bus stop. I'm fascinated by this human world, because it is far more cluttered than mine. Then again, my kind likes wide open spaces, so perhaps the difference is to be expected, since there are far more humans than there are my kind.

In my world, the sun is always shining, it never rains or snows, we have meadows of flowers and fields of the most delicious foods. Our buildings are open to the sky. And everything is white, gold or green, bright and pure. It's a paradise that no human has ever set eyes on. And best of all is that there are less than a hundred of us, which means that everyone has plenty of space to use for whatever strikes their fancy.

And now, I am in a realm not my own…


	2. Disturbance in the Forest

When I finish touring the area, I make my way towards the shrine over on the hill, passing right through several barriers to get there. Of course, no human barrier would be able to keep me out, no matter how strong the one casting it is.

Once inside, an old lady comes out to greet me. "I sensed your arrival in this land not too long ago. I am the Tamayori Princess. I thank you for gracing the shrine with your presence." She motions with her hand. "Please, come inside. We can speak further there without being overheard."

"Of course, there is much to talk about." I accept her invitation with all of the grace and poise that someone of my position should have, just like my father taught me. And I hate every second of it.

I follow her inside the residence and into her private room. She faces me with respect and dignity. "I am aware of your power. And it is an honor to have a goddess like yourself here in the shrine. Forgive me, but I am not at my best. I will soon be passing down the mantle of Tamayori Princess to my granddaughter, Tamaki."

I nod. "Yes, I've seen her. She and that boy, Takuma, were the ones who performed the summoning with that talisman that you gave to him. Quite a rare and interesting talisman, I should add. My father, Suzaku, sent me here to use my power to fulfill that incantation, as well as to make a divine contract with the one who summoned that power. I am here to aid Tamaki in any way that I can until her primary mission is complete. That mission is in the hopes that I will grow into my powers and emerge from my adolescence as a powerful goddess."

The old woman bows her head to me. "And I thank you for your presence. You may make yourself known to my granddaughter whenever you see fit."

I nod. "A less formal setting would be best. I don't want to unduly alarm the girl. Getting off to a bad start is not my intention, and the last thing I want is to have humans running around terrified of me."

"In that case, you may wish to use a spell to mask your appearance somewhat. We humans are unused to the exotic appearances of the beast gods. Your fiery hair and golden eyes are not something that we see together often. That may frighten some of the humans in the area." Her advice is sound, and worth heeding.

I use magic to diminish my appearance, turning my bright scarlet hair dark brown, and my golden eyes a slightly duller bronze color. That should be enough to keep any humans from getting scared. The old woman nods in appreciation and I leave her to her duties, whatever those may be.

* * *

I decide that popping in on them during dinner would be the wisest course of action. At worst, their mouths will be too full for many protestations, and hopefully none of them feel the need to choke on their food. But then I hear their silly laughter. Maybe I should wait until they're in trouble instead. The last thing I need is one of them choking on their food if I suddenly pop in on them. Until then, I will keep watch for any signs of trouble in the town, this town gives me all sorts of creepy vibes, and I'm going to trust my instincts.

Although, watching them go about their daily lives bores me, well, until they get into an argument about naming a fox spirit. The short boy with the purple hair has a fiery personality, the red-haired one is a bit stiff and irritable, and the light haired one seems docile and a bit haughty. In all, that poor girl seems overwhelmed by these guys. And I don't blame her, she sees to have a shy and clumsy personality, and a rather small reserve of self-confidence.

And my vigil continues as I keep watch over them in an intangible and almost undetectable form. And with her four guards, it seems that she should be safe enough. But one of the teachers at their school seems suspicious to me, so I hang around a while after they leave. I scope out the situation at the school, and it seems to be a safe enough place. But that blond woman still gives me the creeps, and for some reason, her hair flashes green a few times. I can feel magic on her, and that can't possibly be a good thing.

* * *

It isn't until late into the night that something interesting finally happens. I sense one of the barriers being disturbed, the energy from the disturbance ripples outwards. This means that a confrontation with another group might be imminent. And so, a chance to finally show myself seems to be fast approaching. With not long left to wait.

I continue to watch the guardians and their princess as they approach the first of the sealing places, since the barrier had weakened. It seems an odd place to go for an afterschool field trip, but nevertheless, this may make it easier to appear. And just as I expect, some drowned gods decide to stage an attack on the group.

For a little while, I stay back and watch, to evaluate their skills for myself. The four of them destroy a couple dozen of them, but there are even more than that. So with them panicking, and the girl running off, I think that it's about time for me to intervene. And just in time too, because the silly princess has gone and run straight towards an even more dangerous entity, who looks like it plans to take her head off. Well, I can't very well let my contractee die.

I turn myself into a bright red light and I radiate power through the trees, destroying all that remain of the drowned gods. That frees up the guardians to engage the last beast, as well as severely weakening the beast so that they might dispatch it quickly. And I have to admit, the red-haired one has quite a lot of power, enough to destroy the weakened beast in one blow.

Since I can sense a presence nearby, I decide that showing myself at the moment is unwise. And besides, hearing the four of them argue about what she did doesn't appeal to me. But once the presence is gone and the arguing is over, I float down to the ground, and change into human form to approach guardians and their princess. "Are all of you alright? That was quite an unexpected attack."

"Who the hell are you? Where did you come from, squirt?" The purple-haired one immediately ticks me off. The older one looks at me with a slight frown, and the light-haired one looks suspicious of me. The red-head just looks bewildered.

So I sigh. "I've been here the entire time. I've been watching you all for several days now, to see what exactly you all are capable of." Then I look at the red-head and the girl. "You two should at least know who I am. You are the ones who summoned me, after all. I wouldn't be in this realm if it weren't for the two of you."

That clearly confuses all of them, so I roll my eyes and make an incantation talisman appear out of thin air. "This is the spell that was used to summon power for protection when your princess first arrived here." Then I hold a ball of bright red light in my hand. "Your prayer was answered by the guardian of the south, the vermillion bird. I am here as a representative of that clan, the beast god clan of the phoenixes."

That stuns all of them, and the purple haired one points disbelievingly at me. "How can a kid like you possibly be summoned by a spell? You look like some brat from middle school!"

That irritates me somewhat. "Looks can be deceiving, I'm over a century and a half old." Now that really shocks them, so I crumple the talisman and set it aflame, letting the ashes fall to the ground. I then turn to the girl. "As you are the one who summoned me here, I will do what I can to aid you in whatever your mission is, as per the contract forged with the humans long ago." Then I smile at her. "I'm very happy to meet you. You can call me Ciara."

The older one shifts a little. "How exactly did you manage to get through the barriers?"

I laugh a little. "I am a divine beast. My powers let me travel through barriers. They can't keep me out, and they can't hurt me either. It takes a lot more than human barriers to stop me."

With all of the questions out of the way, the princess bows and smiles at me. "My name is Tamaki Kasuga." She gestures to the red-head. "This is Takuma. And this is Suguru-san" She gestures next to the older one. Then she gestures to the silver-haired one. "This is Yuuichi-senpai. And this is Mahiro-senpai." She points last to the loud, annoying one with purple hair.

I smile at them all. "In that case, I am very pleased to meet all of you."

But as soon as I get within five feet of them, Tamaki points at me. "Oh wow, you're tiny! You're even shorter than Mahiro-senpai."

That makes me blush with embarrassment, and I try to stay calm. "Well, I'm still pretty young…and still growing. We don't grow at the same rate as humans."

That gets Tamaki curious. "Oh. Well how old would you be if you were human?"

That irritates me a little, but I can't lie to her. "Actually, it's complicated. In terms of equivalence, I should look older than this. Older than you, actually, I should look about the same age as your senpai. Not that it really matters, since the reason I was sent instead of someone older is because my father wants me to grow into my powers as quickly as possible. When that happens, I'll look the way I'm supposed to. So for now, I'm stuck in this tiny body, and I hate it."

Tamaki smiles sweetly at me. "Well, why don't you come back to the shrine with us? We can have something to eat before bed."

I nod slowly. "That would be…fine, I suppose."

Her eyes widen as a thought seems to occur to her. "Wait, can you eat human food?"

Rolling my eyes, I cross my arms and sigh. "Yes, I can. What else would I eat? Air? Fire? Sunlight? Of course I eat food."

"Perfect, then we can have Mitsuru-chan make something for you as well!" Her happy attitude is undiminished, and I feel a little strange being so close to that much pure happiness. I'm used to reserved and patronizing people, not bubbly and hyperactive ones.

* * *

I accompany Tamaki back to the shrine, and the whole way there, she asks every question that pops into her head, mostly questions about what I can do. Frankly, I had no idea that humans would be this curious, or loud. And her enthusiastic interrogation continues all throughout dinner.

Finally, she seems to have no more questions left. Or perhaps only one. "So, are you going to be attending school with us?" She looks at me, a little hopefully.

Alarm shoots through me. "Oh no, no way. I've gotten more education from my elders than one of your learning institutions could provide. Besides, that uniform is way too girly. I like these clothes much better." I turn around, showing her the human clothes I picked. A short sleeved shirt, denim jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie wrapped around my waist. "They're better for running around in."

"I see…" She looks at me curiously. "Well, come on, it's time for bed." She yawns and curls up in the bed in her room, and I go outside, sitting on the roof as the stars come out.


	3. Scorched Crow

**I can't believe that it took me so long to get back to this story. I guess I've just been so preoccupied with my other ones, and with my school work that I kinda just let it drop. Thankfully, it's back on my to do list, along with my English, anthropology, geography and history papers.**

 **Mahiro gets toasted!**

* * *

While they all spend their time attending classes, I find myself hanging out on the roof of their school talking to the birds. Though it all gets noisy one lunchtime when the guys show up, and then, Tamaki arrives with a boy in tow. "Hey, you guys! Come on."

Okay." The boy comes out from the door, and he looks like a sweet little guy. "Um, it's good to see all of you again. You may not remember me, but…"

For a second, that Mahiro looks like he's going to choke on his sandwich. "Am I seeing things, or is that really you?"

The boy smiles. "Yes, I've come back to see you all."

Takuma gets up and pats the boy on the back. "When did you get back?"

"Yesterday."

"You should have told us as soon as you got back. We would have thrown you a party!" Takuma quickly drapes his arms over the boy, though it seems a bit more lazy than warm.

"Yeah, that's right man!" Mahiro jumps up from his chair to slap the new kid on the back.

"Ow! Stop it, that hurts…" Though honestly, it doesn't sound like it hurts that much.

The white-haired one, Yuuichi, finally speaks up."It's good to see you again. You seem well."

The kid smiles. "Yeah. I must admit, it's really good to be back."

Takuma points to Tamaki, with a hint of a condescending air. "And the girl standing over here is the Tamayori Princess we told you about."

"Uh, oh yes." Tamaki bows to the new kid. "I'm Tamaki Kasuga. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The kid bows right back. "The pleasure is mine. I hope I can continue to be of service to you in whatever capacity."

Takuma's tone barely suppresses a snort of laughter. "This girl's always running headfirst into danger. So you'd better watch out for her or she'll get you into trouble."

Mahiro agrees a little too readily. "She's pretty much an idiot."

"Things always do get messy when we take our eyes off of her." Yuuichi examines Tamaki curiously, like he's trying to figure out the mystery as to how she manages to get herself into so much trouble.

Tamaki clues in and quickly gets defensive. "Hey! Don't make him think there's something wrong with me!"

"It's the truth." Takuma goes about shutting her down immediately.

"That's right!" Mahiro looks just a little smug. "Just the other day, when we told you to flee from the Tatari-gami, you ran back in to fight him."

"Ugh…fine, alright, I get it!" Tamaki groans, obviously displeased with being surrounded by a bunch of guys who all think that she's an idiot who is running into trouble at every second of the day. She's not that hopeless.

But even though I'm sitting around enjoying the show, it's not meant to be for long. It would seem that my presence has not gone unnoticed by Yuuichi. "Will you be coming down to introduce yourself to Shinji? It's a little strange for you to be lurking up there, watching us."

"You know, I was perfectly happy to be watching silently." I sigh and roll my eyes, before rolling off the roof and landing perfectly on my feet. I brush the dirt off my jeans and the hoodie tied around my hips. I smile at the kid. "Hello. My name is Ciara. I'm a member of the phoenix clan, and I was summoned here about a week ago by Tamaki and Takuma while they were running for their lives. And as part of a coming of age kind of development, I'm here to help Tamaki in whatever her mission entails in the hope that I'll bloom through my adolescence." I smirk at him. "It's nice to meet you."

That torrent of an introduction seems to daze him slightly, so he just smiles back. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you too."

Mahiro snorts with laughter. "Jeez, what kind of introduction was that? You stunned poor Shinji!" Then he goes and looks at my outfit. "Man, if this is what you like wearing, then you should just cut your hair and pretend to be a boy instead. You have the flat chest to pull it off, so it'd be way more convincing."

And that is the idiot's first, and probably last, mistake.

Smoke rises from Mahiro, and it takes him a couple of seconds for him to realize that his hair is on fire. "Ah! What the hell!? Why is my hair on fire!? How is my hair on fire!?" He freaks out, trying to put out the fire quickly.

I glare angrily at him. "Feel like going and saying all of that again? I couldn't hear you properly the first time." And the look on my face must be scary, because all of them jump back, and no one is offering to help out Mahiro.

"Fine! Fine! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for teasing you like that! Please stop burning me!" I make the fire go away, then turn away in a huff.

Tamaki giggles. "It looks like Mahiro-senpai has finally found someone as sensitive about their appearance as he is."

That ticks me off some, so I walk to the railing. "Ugh…humans are such a pain… And it's not like his hair actually burned or anything, it's holy fire for crying out loud." I click my tongue irritably, and I jump over the railing, turning into a flash of red light and streaking off into the sky.

* * *

After cooling my head for a bit, and by a bit, I mean a whole day and night, I continue my watch. But since I would rather not get into another confrontation, I keep my distance from the guardians and Tamaki. A silent and watchful eye from above will be more useful to me than sticking too close to them and getting into trouble. And by above, I of course mean the roof of the school.

Eventually, once classes break for lunch break, Tamaki, Mahiro, Takuma and Yuuichi all make their way to the roof to eat their lunch. And Takuma notices something very important. "It appears Shinji's late once again."

Yuuichi is as calm and nonchalant about that fact as I would expect."Looks like the girls have him surrounded." And it's a funny thing to imagine, Shinji surrounded by a sea of girls.

"He always gets all the girls." Obviously Mahiro is imagining the same thing I am, though he sounds like he's complaining about it..

Tamaki picks at her food a little, before stuttering a bit. "U-um…did something happen between Shinji-kun and Mitsuru-chan?"

"What do you mean something?" Yuuichi wants clarification, and I don't blame him. Listening to this is making me very confused.

"I just…I just thought that they seemed…well, so much alike. But then…everything seemed to get a little heavy when they met again."

"I agree. Those two guys were pretty darn close before he decided to leave town.

"I believe there would be a lot of reasons to think there's something going on."

"Oh yeah!" Mahiro finally pipes up. "Don't you remember!? Shinji was forced into going out with Mitsuru!"

"Yes, and you were always upset, saying you were the odd man out."

"Tch, you idiot! I was just trying to build teamwork! Gosh! You don't understand me!"

The door suddenly opens, and Shinji walks onto the roof. "So sorry I'm late." But he freezes when he sees the looks he's getting. "What is it, is something wrong?"

"No, we were just talking about you and Mitsuru."

Mahiro picks up on that and gets excited. "Mitsuru became quite the looker. Didn't she?"

Shinji looks distinctly uncomfortable with this turn of events. "Uh, you think so? Really? I have to say…I didn't notice." He turns to Tamaki to change the subject slightly. "I mean, Tamaki-senpai is beautiful as well." And from there he goes on a bit of a roll. "Oh, and the girl from yesterday, Ciara! She's small now, but she's really cute. I'm sure she'll be stunning when she grows up."

There's a moment of silence before Mahiro pipes up. "Shinji…you've got poor taste."

"Yeah…" Yuuichi agrees quietly.

And Takuma makes it unanimous. "Definitely."

Mahiro leans back in his chair, lounging like he doesn't have a care in the world. "Why would you even bring up that pipsqueak? There's no way that a foul-mouthed, boyish little brat like that is going to be pretty, no matter how much she grows up."

After hearing every single one of their comments, I'm feeling just a little pissed off. And with a single thought, I go and set Mahiro's hair on fire again. And boy does that make him yelp. "Ah! What the hell!? What's going on!?"

After about fifteen seconds of his yelping, I put the fire out. "A brat, huh? I don't remember asking you your opinion of me. So why don't you keep your trap shut?"

That pisses him right off. "If you do that again, I'm going to climb up there and kick your ass!"

So I poke my head over the side of the roof. "Oh? I thought you didn't hit girls. Or were you lying about that?"

He glares at me. "A bird brat who looks like a little boy hardly counts as a girl. There's nothing girly about you!"

My eye twitches, and my mouth gets the better of me as I prop myself up to glare right back at him. "I never said I was trying to be girly! But that doesn't change the fact that I'm female! Or do you not get that gods have genders too?"

He scoffs loudly. "Right…because you're a god. There's no way that a brat like you could possibly be a god!"

"Tch-" I sit myself up straight, in the most dignified manner I can manage. "Perhaps you need to be reminded that I am a member of one of the four divine beast god clans. I am far more complex a being than you can imagine. So if I were you, I would measure my words very carefully." I let the mild threat hang in the air, leaving the consequences up to his imagination.

That gets me a very pointed and irritated glare from the crow. But he just rolls his eyes and looks back at his food. "Whatever." And he wisely keeps his mouth shut tight after that.

But I still seethe with petty annoyance and anger. _One of these days…I'm going to prove you so wrong… I'll prove my power to all of you, and I'll prove it to all of them too…_


End file.
